Valentine's Day
by R4D104C71V3
Summary: Dirk/Jake. While Jake English is listening to the radio, he hears of a contest to have a Valentine's Day date with Dirk Strider. To his surprise, Jake wins the contest and gets to spend the day on a date with Dirk.
1. Chapter 1

**Valentine's Day**

It was an early January morning, a rather cold one at that. I was driving to work by myself, and as usual, I was drinking some coffee and listening to the radio. They were playing one of Dirk Strider's songs, and I was quietly singing along. I really enjoyed listening to his music, in fact; he's the only singer I really listen to. Anything else I could care less for. Soon enough, the song ended which faded until the DJ spoke up again.

"Well we just finished listening to a song by Dirk Strider, always makes songs that'll make all the girls swoon. Speaking of Di-Stri, there's a contest that's now starting for you wonderful people to join in." I sat up a little straighter, and perked up, listening to what he had to say. "This contest is to spend an entire day on a date with Dirk Strider on Valentine's Day. So if you want to have a chance to win and have Dirk Strider himself be your Valentine, then you better get your phone out to text saying "Be my Valentine" to 61872. Again "Be my Valentine" to 61872."

"Hmm, sounds interesting. Maybe I should try for it." I said out loud to myself, and took my phone out. I typed in the number, and frowned. "Should I try? Hmm, it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides, what are the odds for me actually winning?" I chuckled, and proceeded to write out the message, before sending it.

A few minutes later, I got a message, asking for a few details about myself. Once I finished writing it, I read it over again.

_Name: Jake English  
Age: 23  
Likes: Chocolate, reading, baking, travelling, archaeology  
Dislikes: Peanuts, country music  
What I want for Valentine's Day: A simple letter is okay. As long as it has meaning and time has been put into writing it._

I wasn't sure how to feel about my answers, they seemed...uninteresting. I sighed, and sent the message anyway, before putting my phone away.

* * *

It's been nearly a month since the contest started. Today's February 12th, and the DJ would soon they're going to announce the winner. I knew there was pretty much no chance that I won, but I was still interested in hearing who did win.

"Okay, folks, it has been one month since this contest started, and you've all been eager to hear the winner of this contest. And I'll be announcing the winner now." I leaned in my chair, causing the chair to be tilted back. I sighed, stirred my coffee before taking a sip. "And the winner for the Valentine's Day contest is..." I took a few more sips of my coffee as I waited for him to announce the winner. "The winner who gets to spend Valentine's Day with Dirk Strider will be Jake English!"

"Jake En-" I yelped from surprise, accidentally spilling my coffee into my lap. I jumped, my eyes wide as I stared at the wall in shock, unsure whether I should react in pain or excitement.

* * *

Two days later, it was Valentine's Day. I was at the store, walking around as I tried to figure out what I should get for Dirk. I've been looking around in the same area for quite a while, but I still had no clue what to get for him. I sighed, picking up a teddy bear. "Admittedly, this is rather cute, but I doubt he'd want a teddy bear." I placed the teddy bear back down onto the shelf and continued to look around.

A few minutes later, someone tapped my shoulder, and quietly said "Excuse me."

I turned around to face them. He was considerably taller than me; he had strikingly orange eyes, blond hair, and a bright grin on his face. He was actually quite attractive. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir," he chuckled, and nervously ran a few fingers through his hair, "I just, uh...I wanted to give you these!" He held a box of chocolates and rose out to me.

"O-oh, why thank you." I could feel my face warm up as I received the items. "That's rather sweet," I smelled the rose, "these are nice." I looked up at him, and smiled.

He looked down at the ground shyly, and ran his skinny fingers through his hair again. "I...I'm glad you like them!" He smiled to himself, and shuffled his feet a little. "Well, I have to get going, so bye!" He exclaimed cheerily, waving to me, and gave me one more grin before running off.

I could feel my face warm up more, not expecting a stranger to suddenly give me Valentine's Day gifts. I couldn't help myself from smiling as I looked at the rose and the chocolates. "I wish I could've gotten to know him, he seemed sweet."

Not too long after, I was waiting in line to check out. I decided I was going to give him a rose and a box of chocolates. I hummed quietly, tapping my feet on the floor happily. Suddenly, my phone started ringing in my pocket. I took it out, slightly confused, because nobody ever called me.

_Unknown caller_

I frowned, read through the unfamiliar number once again before answering the call in a shy voice. "H-hello."

"Yo. Can I speak to Jake English?"

I cleared my throat nervously, and nodded a little. "Yes, speaking."

"Oh," they said quietly, "well this is Dirk. I called you to ask where we should meet for our date today."

I looked around nervously, suddenly feeling embarrassed, my face started to feel warm. I placed one of my hands on my cheek, feeling the blush that was obvious on my face. "W-well, maybe we can go to a restaurant?"

"A restaurant sounds great. Any place in particular you want to go to?"

"No. I-if you have a place in mind, then we can go there!" I replied nervously.

"Great, well we can meet in the park, downtown. You know, by the fountain?"

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about." I took out my wallet, taking out some of the money to pay for the items, and handed the money to the cashier.

"Sweet, so I'll meet you in front of the fountain?"

I let out a laugh, and looked down. "Hey, Strider, before you go, I think it might be helpful if I knew what time I'd be meeting you." I smiled and waved at the cashier before taking the bag and walking off.

"O-oh, right. Is it okay if we meet in an hour and a half?" He asked a bit bashfully.

I couldn't help but smile, and let out a quiet laugh. "That sounds great, I'll see you soon."

"All right, bye, Jake. I'll meet you there." Dirk said, before hanging up.

* * *

Once again, I wandered around the fountain, to see if Dirk was here yet. I felt rather awkward standing in the park by myself, while I was surrounded by numerous couples. But despite the awkwardness of being by myself at the moment, I was really excited to be going on a date with Dirk Strider. I was still in disbelief that I was going with him, and the fact was still sinking in. I spun around a few times, grinning to myself until I accidentally bumped into someone. I looked up at them in complete shock and embarrassment.

I stared up at him, my eyes widened in complete shock. He had blond hair, vibrant orange eyes, a slight smirk on his face and a fedora. And for some reason, I couldn't help but think that he looked familiar...

"Jake English, you have left quite the first impression." He pointed out the obvious with a chuckle, and helped me stand up straight. "In your entry, you never mentioned you were so clumsy."

"Dirk...?" I asked quietly, glancing at him bashfully, giving him a small smile.

A small smile tugged at his lips, and he replied with, "This is him, the one and only. I'm your Valentine, and quite happy, because you're rather adorable." Dirk leant down, gently grasped my fingers and kissed the back of my hand.

"You're quite the gentleman." I told him in a soft voice, feeling a blush start to form on my cheeks, a light fluttery sensation could be felt in my stomach, and my heart started to pound a little in my chest. When he had kissed my hand, I had felt some sort of spark, which I found a little odd.

Dirk stood up straight again, and slipped his hand into mine. "So, you ready to go for some lunch, Jake?"

I jumped slightly when my hand was suddenly being held, looking up at him, surprised. "Oh, yeah, we can get going." I grinned up at him, and followed him as he started walking.

**A/N **This is a belated Valentine's story, I really hope people like it so far. I'll be working on the second chapter from now on, and wish to have it up soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Dirk was leading the way as we walked to the restaurant. He was still holding my hand as we walked; swinging our hands a little, every once in a while he'd squeeze my hand gently. I looked at him once again, and smiled a little. He was dressed rather well for the day, wearing a white button up shirt, a formal vest and a tie. Dirk glanced at me, gave me a small smile before he spoke. "I hope you like the restaurant I chose. In fact, we're almost there, just straight and to the right."

I bit my lip nervously, unsure how I should respond to him. I glanced around myself, down at my shoes. I've been so bashful and nervous around him now; I couldn't do or say anything. "I'm sure it will be splendid." I said in a soft voice, glancing up ahead. We continued to walk in silence, until we arrived in front of the restaurant.

Dirk slid his hand out mine gently, stepping forward, and swung the door open for me. I gave a curt nod to him, and entered the restaurant, with Dirk following behind me. "Oh my, this place is a little fancy isn't it?" I looked around, finding myself in complete shock. "I would have been fine with a small café." I added.

The host saw us, starting to stride over to us, giving us a smile as he greeted us cheerily. "Hello, and good afternoon, you two. My name is Nathan, I'm the host. Has one of you made a reservation to be here today?"

"Yes, we have a reservation, but it's under my brother's name." Dirk responded.

Nathan gestured us over to the front desk, starting to type on the computer. "Now then, what would your brother's name be?"

"His name is Dave Strider." The host, Nathan, looked up at Dirk, raising an eyebrow. "What? That's his name; I think I'd know my own brother's name." Nathan shrugged, continuing to type on the computer.

"My apologies, sir, but you don't have reservations for today. In fact, your reservations aren't for another month."

I looked up at Dirk, finding that he looked furious. "_Excuse me_? Did you just say we don't have reservations? My brother _promised_ me that he made reservations for today."

Nathan's eyes widened and he raised his arms in defense. "I'm sorry, sir, but there's nothi-"

I frantically took hold of Dirk's hands, and smiled to Nathan. "I am so sorry for the trouble, Nathan. It's truly all right about the reservations, we will be fine without it, and we'll be around next month."

Dirk let out a long sigh, nodding. "Okay, I'm sorry, Nathan, we'll leave now. Sorry for the trouble."

"All right, well I hope you too have a good day." Nathan smiled once again, waving us goodbye. We turn around to leave, and Dirk looked to me. "Sorry about that, Jake…" He sighed and rubbed his eyes, looking frustrated.

I patted his shoulder, hoping maybe it give him a sense of relief. "It's quite alright, Dirk. We can always go somewhere else more fun, right?" I smiled to him and kissed his cheek. "Besides, I bet it wasn't even your fault.

"You're probably right; I bet he did this on purpose…"

I grinned, starting to jump excitedly, "We should have a picnic then, and a picnic sounds great!"

"All right, sure. We can have picnic! What do you say about going to my place to prepare for our little picnic, hmm?" Dirk took hold of my hand once again, smiling down at me. "And while you're cooking, maybe I can make you some sweets." Dirk said, placing his other hand on my waist.

I looked down at the ground, shuffling my feet, hoping that he wasn't able to see the blush and the sheepish smile. "Wonderful, now, we should get going now in order to get ready for our date today."

After that, Dirk had called up a cab to bring us to his place. Our cab driver didn't recognize him, which he was old, so I figured he wasn't into the new, so he kept to him. Our trip was rather long, so Dirk and I made small talk, giggling amongst ourselves. I looked out the window to see green fields full of gold crops, all behind fences. "So, you live out in the country?" I questioned, feeling a grin spread across my face.

"Hmm, yeah," Dirk answered softly, "before my parents moved out, they lived out here. Now they live together in Maine." I looked over at him, finding that he was staring out the other window. He leaned on his arm, seeming wistful as he smiled. "So I live out here by myself. It's pretty nice, I have to admit that."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did they move?"

Dirk's eyes widened for a second, then immediately turned his head away to face away from me. "Um…well that's actually a sensitive subject, Jake." He mumbled, shifting in his seat uncomfortably, letting out a sigh.

"O-oh. Well I'm sorry for asking, Dirk. If I had known, I wouldn't have asked…"

"It's fine, Jake, really." He returned back to staring out the window, slouching into the cab's seat. Minutes passed by, and we all sat in the cab in complete silence until Dirk tapped on the window. "Hey, Jake, that's my place right up there!" Dirk exclaimed, hopping a little in his seat, obviously excited.

I leaned over to look out the other window, seeing a pretty decent sized home, with a big yard up front, white fence surrounding it. He turned to me quickly, his eyes wide and bright, a big grin on his face. He was so childish at times; it was hard to believe that he was 23. "You're house is really nice, is this where you grew up?"

"Yes, my brother and I both grew up here. Great childhood, I loved every second of it."

"Sounds like you grew up well and happy." I commented quietly. Suddenly, the cab came to a quick stop, which made me hit my forehead against the window. "Ouch." I muttered to myself, sitting up straight as I rubbed my forehead.

"Sorry about that." The cab driver apologized, looking back at us. "But hey, this is your stop, so you guys can get out now."

As soon as he stopped talking, Dirk and I unbuckled, stepping out of the car. Dirk walked over to the driver, taking out his wallet. "Oh yeah, by the way, thanks for driving us here, it means a lot to me." I watched as he took a wad of money from his wallet and handed it to the cab driver. "Here, just keep the change." He said, and waved a little. "Have a great day, sir." The cab driver nodded to him and smiled before he drove off.

—-

Nearly two hours later, Dirk and I were just about done getting ready for our little picnic, and I had just gotten everything into the basket. I placed Dirk's chocolates and the rose in as well, but I placed it on the top. I smiled to myself closing the basket, picking it off the table. We were almost ready! All we needed now was the picnic blanket, and we could head outside. I looked over at Dirk, folding a blanket. I smiled a little, walking back into the kitchen, waiting next to the back door.

Dirk walked in, looking around, brightening up when he saw me. "Hey, Jake, you ready, or do you need anything else before we head out?" He looked over at me, and I just shook my head no. "Really? All right then, well let's go out." He placed his hand on the doorknob, turning it to open the door. He stepped in front of the door, holding it for me.

I smiled and nodded to him, quietly telling him thank you as I walked out. He just hummed in response, closing the door behind him. "So I was thinking of having our picnic right back here, if you didn't mind that is. I know it isn't much back here, but if you want I can drive us somewhere else." He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked around.

I looked around my surroundings, smiling a little to myself. To my left, there was a small flower garden, and trees every where, green grass all around us. "Actually, right here is great! It's really nice back here." I commented. "No need to worry, it's great."

"Really? That's good! I'm glad you like it." He walked over to a small patch of grass. "We can set up right here and have our lunch." I set down the basket, helping him unfold the blanket as well as spreading the blanket down on the ground.

"That's such a big blanket, oh my gosh." I started laughing, and plopped myself down on the right side, placing the blanket in front of me.

"Heh, sorry, but it was the first one I found." He walked over to the other side of the blanket, sitting himself down. I felt myself start to blush, not expecting him to sit so close to me. Even then, he moved himself closer until his hand was touching mine. "Now, if you'd excuse me." He reached over, picking up the basket one-handedly, and placed it back down in front of us.

"What do you want to have first? There's some sandwiches, fruit, or, uh..." My voice faded out when Dirk gently took hold of my hand. He smiled shyly to me, before looking off to the side. "Your hands are so warm..." I said softly, running my thumb across his hand. I leaned in closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder.

Dirk suddenly jumped forward, causing me to jump from surprise. "Is that chocolate? I love chocolate!" He exclaimed excitedly, reaching in the basket, taking the box of chocolates out.

"Really? I'm glad I got you it then." I took my hand away from his, starting to take the food out from the picnic basket.

"Thanks, Jake. It was really sweet of you to get me these." He placed the box of chocolates down, now looking at the rose with a small smile gracing his face.

I placed my chin on my hand, looking over at him, feeling elated that I had gotten the day to spend with him. All day I've been feeling absolutely happy, all because of Dirk. I glanced to his lips, causing me to bite my own. Gosh, I really wanted to kiss him...

"I'm actually rather surprised I didn't get anything from you, Dirk. I mean, I'm in no position to be complaining, because this date so far is terrific. I just-"

"Jake," Dirk interrupted, "I've... I've already given you your gifts today." He looked at me sheepishly. I cocked my head to the side, evidently confused by what he was trying to communicate to me. "Earlier today, when you were at the store, I was there too. I was the one who, uh..."

My eyes widened when I realized what he meant, and started to blush once again. "Y-you were the tall blond? You bought me those gifts?" I questioned with disbelief. He only nodded, and looked away, his cheeks pink from embarrassment. "That's why you looked so familiar! And you know what? That was the _cutest _thing that has ever happened to me, and I loved how you were so shy!"

"I..." he giggled to himself, "well, I... hehe..."

I squealed quietly, simply not able to contain the fact about how _adorable_ he was acting. I moved myself closer to him, and placed my hand on his waist, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "You are simply too cute." I commented, kissing his other cheek.

Dirk's face was now red, and was obviously too shy to speak or even look at me. After a few seconds, he softly said, "Hey, after we're done eating lunch, is it all right if I bring you somewhere?"

"Of course! Where are you going to bring me?"

"Well, that's a surprise, so," he chuckled, "I'm not going to tell you. You'll have to wait until we get there." I playfully pouted, but agreed to go along with his plans anyway. We started to eat our lunch, all the while chatting to each other.

**A/N:** I am so sorry for posting later than intended. I'll start writing the next chapter as soon as possible, just hope people like it so far.


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